Despite the enormous appeal enjoyed by his works for their reflection of the American culture, Norman Rockwell remains one of the most underappreciated and misunderstood artists of our age. The mid-century division between 'high art' and 'pop culture' didn't serve him well: the elitist idea that the use of popular imagery could not possibly be defined 'art' was still broadly accepted by mainstream artists and serious art critics, that same intelligentsia that dismissed Rockwell's illustrations as bourgeous and often kitschy. The general attitude toward a more 'democratic' representation of reality (both in its subjects and means of distribution) was, at that time, heavily marked by disdain, even when it became impossible to ignore Rockwell's incredible talent. His brilliant technique was nothing short of a Salvador Dali, but according to Nabokov, one of his fiercest detractors, it was being put to a banal use.

If you happen to stand on that side of the fence when it comes to Rockwell's art, you may want to consider this iconic artist and his quintessentially American illustrations from a different angle and uncover, beyond the seemingly idealistic and sentimentalized portrayal of everyday life scenarios, a much deeper truth about the man and the artist who brought those images to life. In her well-researched study, Hidden In Plain Sight: The Other People In Norman Rockwell's America, Jane Allen Petrick argues that, beneath the overly sweet, small-town America iconography, made of grandmas, Santas, and freckled boy scouts, lays a more subtle and socially charged message. Something in between a memoir and an insightful social study, Petrick's biography demonstrates how Rockwell used his art to deliver an ante-litteram message of ethnic tolerance and multiculturalism.

While it is true that the centerpiece of his artistic production focused on everyday life scenarios that served as magazine covers during his five-decade-long collaboration with The Saturday Evening Post, critics have been stubbornly and blatantly overlooking Rockwell's attention to more relevant subjects such as racism, civil rights, war on poverty. It was interesting to learn how his artistic expression was largely limited by his publisher's policy: the magazine covers could show minorities only if portrayed in menial positions. That would explain why a shift in Rockwell's choice of topics coincided with the interruption of his relationship with The Post. A new collaboration with a more progressive magazine (The Look) allowed him to turn his attention to more relevant issues and openly depict his concerns in matter of social justice.

Brief and insightful, Petrick's study documents the neglected truth about one of the most innovative artists of the 20th century.

***Review copy graciously offered by the author in return for an unbiased and honest opinion

***Photo credit: Google.com

The Problem We All Live With

New Kids In The Neighborhood

Love Ouanga

Glen Canyon Dam

Working On The Statue Of Liberty

Boy in a Dining Cat

Murder in Mississippi

Blurb

"A fresh and well-researched study of artist Norman Rockwell's treatement of race." - KirkusNorman Rockwell’s
America was not all white. As early as 1936, Rockwell was portraying
people of color with empathy and a dignity often denied them at the
time. And he created these portraits from live models.Hidden in
Plain Sight: The Other People in Norman Rockwell’s America unfolds, for
the first time, the stories of the Asian, African, and Native Americans
who modeled for Norman Rockwell. These people of color, though often
hidden in plain sight, are present throughout Rockwell’s more than 4000
illustrations. People like the John Lane family, Navajos poignantly
depicted in the virtually unknown Norman Rockwell painting, “Glen Canyon
Dam.” People like Isaac Crawford, a ten year old African-American Boy
Scout who helped Norman Rockwell finally integrate the Boy Scout
calendar.

In this engrossing and often humorous narrative, Jane
Allen Petrick explores what motivated Norman Rockwell to slip people of
color “into the picture” in the first place. And in so doing, she
persuasively documents the famous illustrator’s deep commitment to and
pointed portrayals of ethnic tolerance, portrayals that up to now have
been, as Norman Rockwell biographer Laura Claridge so clearly put it,
“bizarrely neglected”.

Hidden in Plain Sight: The Other People in
Norman Rockwell’s America is an eye opener for everyone who loves
Norman Rockwell, everyone who hates Norman Rockwell and for all those
people in between who never thought much about Norman Rockwell because
they believed Norman Rockwell never thought much about them. This book
will expand the way you think about Norman Rockwell. And it will deepen
the way you think about Norman Rockwell's America.

Jane Allen Petrick

GIVEAWAY

A copy of Hidden in Plain Sight is up for grabs. Use the Rafflecopter widget below for a chance to win. Good luck!

Monday, February 24, 2014

From New York Times bestseller Deborah Crombie comes her latest mystery, featuring London detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James, where sins of the past lead to a powerful danger in the present.

And you may win a copy!

“Crombie
is very talented at putting together a richly atmospheric whodunit.... [A]s a
creator, she energetically inhabits the many strange worlds she shows her
readers....”
— Washington Post

“Ms.
Crombie again has turned out a gripping and nicely tailored mystery and added
another chapter to her chronicle of Kincaid and Jones.”— Washington Times

“…Deborah
Crombie never falters. Her novels are a delight, and with The Sound of Broken Glass, she keeps her impressive creative streak
intact.”
— Miami Herald

“With a multilayered plotline,
deft characterizations in which even the minor players are fully realized and
endless compassion for everyone in the cast, Crombie creates another worthy
installment in her distinguished body of work.”
— Richmond Times-Dispatch

Making a smashing debut within the Top Ten of the New York Times Bestseller list last
year, Deborah Crombie’s THE SOUND OF BROKEN GLASS(William Morrow;
February 25, 2014; ISBN: 9780061990649; $13.99)is now available in trade
paperback, and has already been named an Indie Next Pick for March.

When a thirteen-year-old boy, the son of an
alcoholic mother with few acquaintances, befriends his next door neighbor, a
young widow, he feels—for the first time in his life—as if someone cares about
his future. The pair forms a special
relationship, but one shocking act of betrayal causes the young woman to lose
everything she’s worked so hard to accomplish and shatters the young boy’s
innocence, changing both their lives forever.

Years later, Detective Inspector Gemma James has
been assigned to lead a Murder Investigation Team and assisting her is newly
promoted Detective Sergeant Melody Talbot.
They are called to a crime scene to find a well-respected barrister
naked, trussed, and apparently strangled in a seedy hotel room. And when a second victim, a junior barrister,
is found murdered in the same way, Gemma and Melody fear they have a serial
killer at work.

Meanwhile, Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid,
Gemma’s husband, has taken leave from Scotland Yard to care for their
three-year-old foster daughter, Charlotte.
Duncan has been following the investigation with increasing concern and
when he realizes he has a personal connection with one of the suspects, he
interviews the young man who admits recognizing the second victim, a childhood
friend. Duncan and Gemma now know the
killings are not random, and that the young man may be the link between the
victims. Could he be the killer—or is he
the next victim?

An ice storm traps detectives and suspects in the steep streets of Crystal
Palace and only the revelation of the past can stop the killer, and only the
young man holds the key. Will he face the truth in time?

About the Author

Deborah Crombie is a New York Times
Notable author and has been nominated for and won many awards including the New York Times Book of the Year. She is a native Texan who has lived in both England and
Scotland. She lives in McKinney, Texas, sharing a house that is more than one
hundred years old with her husband, three cats, and two German shepherds.

GIVEAWAY!

THE PUBLISHER IS GENEROUSLY OFFERING A COPY OF THE SOUND OF BROKEN GLASS TO ONE LUCKY FOLLOWER OF THIS BLOG. LEAVE A COMMENT IN THE SECTION BELOW AND INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS FOR A CHANCE TO WIN.

About Me

Mother of two amazing kids, Miss A™ entertainment columnist, avid reader bordering book-fetishism. Books are my childhood friends, my stress-relief therapy, my wings to fly to faraway lands and distant times, my source of knowledge and inspiration. I simply adore them and consume them aplenty. My "book love affair" began in my early teens with the Bronte sisters, Dickens, Austen, Poe, Conrad, and James. My taste in reading was shaped by those masters and still today, when I read fiction, I appreciate the dark tones, the Gothic touches, and the psychological insight typical of those classics.